Foreign journalists visit BR

• By SONIA SMITH
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Nov 5, 2008 - Page: 3B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Two foreign journalists spent the week leading up to the presidential elections in Baton Rouge, observing the democratic process in America and the role of the media.

Narantuya Dangaasuren, from Mongolia, and Suzana Mendes, from Angola, were among 48 foreign journalists hosted at newspapers across the nation as part of a program run by the Washington, D.C., International Center for Journalists.

Dangaasuren, 42, and Mendes, 27, arrived in Baton Rouge on Oct. 26 and spent days observing early voting, attending a House committee hearing at the state Legislature and meeting with officials.

“We were very happy to have them here,” said Carl Redman, The Advocate’s executive editor. “I hope some of our reporters were able to spend time with them and talk to them not only about America and the way we cover politics, but try to learn about them and their countries as well.”

Mendes, editor-in-chief of the Angolense based in the Angolan capital of Luanda, has worked for nine years as a journalist and covers political and social issues for the weekly, privately-owned publication.

Dangaasuren, who studied journalism at Moscow State University, has worked as a journalist since 1989. She is the managing editor of Ardiin Erkh, a daily newspaper in Ulaanbaatar.

Angola, where most of the media remains state-controlled, ranked 116 out of 173 countries on Reporters Without Borders’ 2008 Press Freedom Index. Mongolia ranked 93.

“American journalists have the freedom to write and speak about what they want,” Mendes said.

While there is not much outright censorship today in Mongolia, journalists commonly practice self-censorship, Dangaasuren said.
 
The publishers “don’t tell us what to write, but we know that we can’t write some things they won’t like,” Dangaasuren said.

On election coverage, Mendes said she noticed that American reporters took pains to devote equal time to each candidate.

Angola, which was mired in civil war from 1975 to 2002, held its first parliamentary elections since 1992 in September. In the time leading up to those elections, the state-run media only showed the perspective of the governing party, Mendes said.

Mendes said the opportunity to observe the openness of the American political process and meet with journalists from around the world will help coverage of her country’s next elections.

“Democracy is built, it is not something that happens suddenly. It’s a process and I’m sure the next election we will do better,” Mendes said.